This Interviewee is a new face around the central CXBL but is no stranger to the sport of paintball. Alex Blackburn has been playing
paintball since 2000. He has numerous tournaments under his belt for many
different leagues. Blackburn has played in the PSP, NPPL, Millenium, NYPL/NAPL,
TOC, and other lesser known tournaments throughout his paintball career.
He began his paintball journey with Random Heroes as a CX4 team in the Eastern CXBL. Though the guys had wanted to begin at the MXL level, all of the spots were already filled and in order to get a start with the CXBL, they took the CX4 position with hopes of moving up. Upon winning the title in the CX4 division, Alex and his Random Heroes counterparts made the bump to MXL the following year. They fought hard in the MXL division and finished the season with a solid second place allowing them to make the bump to the CXBL division.
Blackburn continued playing with Random Heroes for 2 seasons at the CXBL level before making a roster change to play with Kamikaze. After playing for 1 year under the Kamikaze name, he made another roster change. This means that we will see him playing with the 2012 Mirabel Impact in the new CXBL Elite division.
Having so much experience with so many different formats of the paintball game has equipped Alex with a very good understanding of the game. Blackburn says, “growing up playing 7man, I would consider myself more of a methodical/smart player.” While his paintball journey has taught him to keep his head about him in game situations, he assured “I can definitely turn on the aggressiveness when I need to!”
Those who have seen Alex play know him to excel at the snake position. When asked if we could expect to see him drudging his way down the snake again in the 2012 season, Alex replied, “most likely…however, I’m very confident in my abilities in any position…I’m comfortable playing a back centre, the corners, insert, or front on the Dorito side as well.” Blackburn is also a graphic designer and the part owner of Murdertron clothing brand. You can check out their awesome designer tees, hats, longsleeves, hoodies, shades, and stickers at shop.murdertron.com. You can also find them on twitter, facebook, and instagram. The apparel really does rock and lucky for me, they even sell ladies wear!
He began his paintball journey with Random Heroes as a CX4 team in the Eastern CXBL. Though the guys had wanted to begin at the MXL level, all of the spots were already filled and in order to get a start with the CXBL, they took the CX4 position with hopes of moving up. Upon winning the title in the CX4 division, Alex and his Random Heroes counterparts made the bump to MXL the following year. They fought hard in the MXL division and finished the season with a solid second place allowing them to make the bump to the CXBL division.
Blackburn continued playing with Random Heroes for 2 seasons at the CXBL level before making a roster change to play with Kamikaze. After playing for 1 year under the Kamikaze name, he made another roster change. This means that we will see him playing with the 2012 Mirabel Impact in the new CXBL Elite division.
Having so much experience with so many different formats of the paintball game has equipped Alex with a very good understanding of the game. Blackburn says, “growing up playing 7man, I would consider myself more of a methodical/smart player.” While his paintball journey has taught him to keep his head about him in game situations, he assured “I can definitely turn on the aggressiveness when I need to!”
Those who have seen Alex play know him to excel at the snake position. When asked if we could expect to see him drudging his way down the snake again in the 2012 season, Alex replied, “most likely…however, I’m very confident in my abilities in any position…I’m comfortable playing a back centre, the corners, insert, or front on the Dorito side as well.” Blackburn is also a graphic designer and the part owner of Murdertron clothing brand. You can check out their awesome designer tees, hats, longsleeves, hoodies, shades, and stickers at shop.murdertron.com. You can also find them on twitter, facebook, and instagram. The apparel really does rock and lucky for me, they even sell ladies wear!
Alex- You are an experienced player with a lot to offer the
Mirabel Impact squad. I respect your dedication to the sport and I know that
you are a player whom the lower divisions can look up to! We look forward to
seeing Mirabel come together on the field as you join the CXBL Elite this
season!
Photo Credit: Unknown
(Let me know if you know the photographer so that I can give them credit)
- What have you been doing as a team during the off-season to prepare for the 2012 CXBL season?
“The obvious... practice almost every weekend as a team. We rotate practice to practice: Some practices we will focus on breakout drills, snap shooting, communication skills, and what I like to call mini-games (group the players into small teams and create some sort of objective: this could be a race to occupy 50 snake bunker, or killing a penalty for a particular amount of time, etc),
The other practices we
would work on specific plays, and actually play some full 5 on 5 xball.”
- What have you been doing as an individual to prepare for the coming season?
“I make sure to play at least once if not twice a week. I am playing on 3 different teams for 3 different leagues, so I am getting my fair share of paintball. The one thing I’ve been working on personally is my conditioning; at 27 years of age I’m considered an old man in the local paintball scene, and I definitely need to jog and condition myself to keep up with these younger guys.”
- What do you feel is your team’s greatest strength headed into this season?
“This team is very young, some of the players have never played at the CXBL level, but I think our greatest strength is the determination these guys have to make a name for themselves. We also have one of the most respectable coaches to ever come out of the east, Shawn Monk, in our corner.”
- Which team do you feel will be your greatest competition this season and why?
“I think every team will
be tough. Everyone’s roster is stacked. The CXBL might not have as many teams
in the Elite division as the past, but every team is cutting the fat as well as
adding big names.”
- Which team do you feel will be the weakest this season and why?
“I’m not too sure. I
think every team has a decent roster, and they will all be hard to compete
against.”
- Which player on your own team do you most respect as a player and why?
“As a player I would
have to say Marc-Andre, I think he’s one of the best players to ever come out
of the east. He knows the game very well, he’s quick and has excellent gun
fighting skills.”
- Were there any changes this off-season that surprised you? For example, roster changes or league changes.
After Windsor won it
last year I expected it to be an arms race for big name pros. The thing I’m most surprised of is not seeing Toronto Rage... I don’t think I
even saw their players rostered on new teams. (I’m sure they are focusing on
another league, good luck to them).”
- Is there anything else you would like to add?
“ Just would like to
shout out my team sponsors: IMPACT Proshop - Mirabel Paintball - GI SPORTZ - Skorpion
Paintball – AK’s Proshop - VFORCE – PBL. As well as my other sponsors that have/are
helping me this season: Exalt - INKA Paintball -
Planet Eclipse – Badlands – Hopperz Paintball – Frontline Paintball and just a
special shout out for my boys on Ottawa Royalty and the Scrub Life guys!”
Thank you, Alex for
taking the time to answer my questions. With your level-head and dedication to
the sport, I am sure that this season will be one marked by your hard work and
passion.
As for the Rage guys, I do believe we will see a good chunk of last season's roster playing for Windsor Lockdown this year. Lockdown has yet to post their roster on www.xball.com.
Signing off,
The Paintball Wife
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